Increasing water storage

Tuesday

Feb 26, 2013 at 12:01 AM

A bill that has to do with water-related issues is going through the Kansas legislature. Numbered SB 43, it is being introduced by the joint committee on energy and environmental policy. It has to do with bank stabilizations and sediment issues.

Ryan Flaming, K-State Extension

A bill that has to do with water-related issues is going through the Kansas legislature. Numbered SB 43, it is being introduced by the joint committee on energy and environmental policy. It has to do with bank stabilizations and sediment issues.

The bill states "the Kansas water office shall prepare a comprehensive plan to increase water storage in Kansas reservoirs through dredging that will begin with John Redmond reservoir."

It will employ stream bank stabilization and other methods to reduce sedimentation in watersheds above water supply reservoirs and also assure future water storage in Kansas reservoirs; and finance each improvement project.

"John Redmond has lost nearly 40 percent of its original capacity to sedimentation and today, only 43 percent of the remaining capacity contains water," Susan Metzge of the Kansas Water Office testified during committee hearings. "As a result, we currently have access to only 25 percent of the reservoir’s storage potential. While John Redmond is our current highest priority for storage restoration, it only serves as an example of the condition of many of our state’s water supply reservoirs. The Kansas Water Office, in partnership with other local, state and federal stakeholders, is actively developing plans and implementing measures to address this issue."

With the amount of rainfall we have been getting the last couple years this would be something you might want to take advantage of if you are thinking about digging the sediment out of your dry pond.

The Kansas water office will submit the plan to the Kansas legislature on or before Dec. 1, 2013.

Full text of the bill, and Metzger's testimony, is online at http://www.kwo.org/news_government/News_Government.htm. There is a list of bills at that website pertaining to water issues.

— Ryan Flaming is a Kansas State Research and Extension Agent for Harvey County. Agriculture is his specialty.

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